Kayowai
by xerrodeath
Summary: Twelve years into the future, after Orochimaru and the Sound Country ravaged the Fire country. Yet now with the Fire’s immensely growing power, tensions with the other, smaller, countries are reaching the boiling point. With the fire country getting a new


k a y o w a i

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**The Prologue / Summary.  
**The Fire Country grows and expands, becoming more and more powerful than ever before. Twelve years into the future, after Orochimaru and the Sound Country ravaged the Fire country, sending into despair for some years. Yet now with the Fire's immensely growing power, tensions with the other, smaller, countries are reaching the boiling point. The inevitable fate has been decided; The Fire Country must fall and crumble at its very foundation, Konoha. With the Sound country once again stepping up and taking the lead, now with the support of the Grass, Waterfall, Rain, and Water countries, they've planned to strike Konoha at its weakest point; The ceremony hailing in the successor to the great Godaime, Tsunade, Haruno Sakura.

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**Chapter one: Descent into Chaos**  
The sun shines down brightly upon the sprawling village of Konoha. Shizune walks franticly down the halls of the Hokage's mansion, carrying a large stack of books with papers that were stuffed between the pages, pouring out of the sides of each and every book. She plows down a set of two large, wooden, double doors and slams down the large stack of books and paperwork on Tsunade's desk. Shizune stares at Tsunade, sweating and panting, as she tries to regain her breath, "Ah…I'm getting to old for this! Tsunade's chair turns slowly away from the window to face Shizune.

"Well I'm not getting any younger either you know…" Tsunade broke a slight smile knowing she didn't look a day over twenty-five. Her right arm swings up from underneath the desk and pushes the stack of papers out of the way. She brings both of her hands up to her chin and crosses her fingers neatly together, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, "However, we only have a week left before Sakura takes my place as the new Hokage of Konoha. But today is the day of the festival where we announce she will take my place…my retirement is long overdue, the high council may not agree, but they say if I must step down, its only right that Sakura takes my place." Tsunade glares over to Shizune, a bit uneasy, "You did finish the preparations for today's festivities didn't you?"

"Yes, I finished them all yesterday." Tsunade's eyes open slightly starring at the edge of her desk, a small droplet of sweat rolls down the right side of her face.

"So I take it the ANBU are prepared?" Shizune's eyes drop down to look at the floor.

"Yes…they are prepared for the worst."

"Good…" Tsunade sighs as she leans back in her chair and tosses a winning lottery ticket onto the floor.

A faint silhouette appears at the wide open door. Tsunade looks up and forces out a smile seeing Sakura standing there. "Am I interrupting anything?" Sakura asked as she moved into the room.

"No!" Tsunade replies, looking over to Shizune just standing there, still pale from their conversation, "…Nothing at all, we were just talking about today's festivities!" Tsunade stares at Sakura. An odd moment of silence filled the room, "…So, how is Naruto doing?"

Sakura flinched at the question and bowed her head, "He's doing fine…its been a week since the injury, I've healed him up, the doctors are looking after him now…" Tsunade nods and turns her chair to the window overlooking the vast village. "So I guess we should get ready…" A tear drops from Sakura's, already red, eyes. "Only a few hours until the festival starts Tsunade-sensei."  
- - - - -

Flashback: One week ago.  
Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura walk down the gravel roads of the Village of the Hidden Mist. Naruto looks over to Kakashi who is standing to his right, "Mission accomplished Kakashi-sensei!" His words are suddenly stopped, as he sees an old wore down trail, that seems familiar. Without thinking, Naruto turns off from the other two and starts down the trail, moving faster and faster, eventually breaking into a run. Sakura stops, frustrated, and hears Naruto yelling back, _"Wait there…I'll be back soon…"_ His words slowly fade away as Kakashi looks up from his book. _'Here we go again'_ He thinks to himself, "Eh…Sakura, we'd better go after him…" Sakura nods and the two slowly start to walk up down the trail Naruto took.

Naruto stops, barely out of breath, he peers around the eerie, overgrown wood area. He turns to his right and sees a large outlined figure, but it wasn't human, it was some object. Intrigued, Naruto walks slowly towards the object, suddenly it all flashes through his mind; Fourteen years ago…_The sky was bright orange and red with the sunset. Sakura and Sasuke stand with Kakashi as Naruto places the head-protector of Momochi Zabuza and Haku upon the wooden crosses made. Zabuza's huge sword towers over his peaceful gave. Naruto steps away, saying a few words the three start back to Konoha._ Naruto stands in aw, its been so long since he's seen this place. He hears something moving ahead of him, his right hand moves slowly to his pack with the kunai's. An old woman slowly make here way up out of the shadows, drying her tears. Naruto seems puzzled by this, he slowly walks over, "Is the something wrong?" The old woman looks up then kneels and lays a white flower upon Haku's grave.

"Wh…who are you?" The old woman's voice was very weak as she spoke.

"Uh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto…" He said cautiously.

"Naruto?…" The old woman paused to think. She coughed and walked up to Naruto. "…Konoha, team seven?"

Naruto starred oddly at the old woman, "…ye…" Not even completing the whole word, Naruto stopped as he felt a sharp pain run through his body. He saw a large spike made of ice protruding from the old woman's palms, it went into Naruto's stomach, out through his back tearing through organs, and breaking bones. Naruto coughed up blood as his body started to shake. He peered into the old woman's eyes, "W…why…" The words were barely able to escape from his thinning breath. A tear rolled down the old woman's wrinkled cheek.  
"My name is Kouri, from the village of the hidden Snow." Her voice was soft, and shaking as she spoke, "I…I'm Haku's grandmother. Stuck in a war in the Hidden Snow I was never able to come back to the Mist until just a few years ago. When I came back, my entire clan was slaughtered…even my precious Haku. Its all your fault…" The old woman withdrew the ice spike harshly from Naruto's stomach. She watched as he fell to his knees gasping for air, the damage she had done was horrendous. Tears filled Naruto's eyes, he tried to speak, but he slowly faded into an unconscious state.

"So…what do you think Naruto is up to now Kakashi-Sensei?" Kakashi shrugged and looked up from his book, arriving at the scene first. His book fell to the ground seeing Naruto laying in a pool of blood, he looked around, but there was no sign of anyone. Sakura screamed, and rushed to Naruto's side. She did what she could, luckily Naruto was able to be saved and brought to the Hospital in the Hidden Mist. Five days later Sakura and Kakashi escorted the injured Naruto back to a Konoha hospital.

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The streets of Konoha filled with happy villagers. The smell of sweet confections and treats filled the air. Kids ran through the streets playing ninja, their parents eagerly awaiting the announcement of who will be the new Hokage, and celebration of Tsunade, for her retirement. Shizune gather up a few papers and walks out of the room yelling back to Tsunade and Sakura, "You have thirty minutes left!" Sakura looked at Tsunade.

"Well I should get going, I have to get ready myself…" Sakura started to turn to walk out of the room.

"Naruto will be fine…" Tsunade stares out of the window, "We have more important things to worry about…" Tsunade lets out a sigh, looking over the village. Sakura bows her head and leaves the room.  
- - - - -  
Tsunade walks out of the Hokage mansion, with Shizune, wearing the Hokage robe and hat. She smiles and greets villagers as the pass. Sakura, all dressed up, walks a few feet behind Tsunade and Shizune, thinking about Naruto's condition as she goes. Tsunade reaches out and grabs a piece of candy off of a small market display and quickly eats it, she grabs another and tosses it to Sakura. Sakura looks up catching the piece of candy without even trying. She looks up at Tsunade.

"Cheer up Sakura-Chan," Tsunade winks, "Today is you day!" Sakura smiles slightly as Tsunade turns back around. 'I wish I could…' Sakura thinks to herself. Out of the corner of her eye she spots an unusual person in all black, she turns her head in curiosity, but nothing was there, 'Three days without sleep makes you go crazy huh…'

Tsunade and Shizune turn at the Hokage monument and start walking up the stairs carved into the cliff. Sakura kept on walking, past the stair case, and bumped into a tall slender figure and fell to the ground. The tall figure's hand reached out from a long black trench coat. Sakura looked up and saw the man's hand, it was slim, and the nail were painted black. She slowly reached up and grabbed his hand. Sakura looked up at his face, yet it was covered by an odd hat with bandages hanging off the side covering his face.

"Eh…who are you?" Sakura asked the man. However, he just stood there. A gust of wind cam through and blew the bandages out of the man's face. Sakura stood starring at him, still gripping his hand. The bright red eyes peered through the darkness, Sakura let go of his hand. The man turned around and started to walk away. Sakura saw the crest of the Uchiha on the back of the man's black trench coat. Her jaw dropped, "…Sa…Sasuke…" she whispered. The man stopped hear the name.

"Sakura!" Tsunade yelled out, "Sakura!" Tsunade came down the stone stairs and spotted Sakura standing, starring off into the crowd of people. "Sakura, what's wrong?" Tsunade said walking up to her. Sakura turned to see Tsunade and looked back, The man was gone.

"Oh nothing Tsunade-Sensei." Sakura smiled and followed Tsunade up the stair case. When they reached the top of the stairs, Sakura and Tsunade were greeted by the council members of the village. After saying her hello's and such, Sakura went and sat by the ledge of the large stage on the side of the Hokage monument while Tsunade continued to talk, and Shizune did paper work.  
- - - - -  
Naruto sat up from the hospital bed. He looked over at the nurse cleaning the other side of the room. The nurse stood up and looked at Naruto. "Ah…your finally up," She said smiling, "Its been nearly a week now that you've been out." Naruto starred at the nurse. 'A week?' He thought to himself. Naruto looked down at his stomach, seeing the thick layer of bandages, he sighed and fell down into the bed. He starred at the ceiling. He listened to all the noises around him, being all the way up an the fourth floor, he could still hear a commotion outside. He sat up again and looked out the window. Naruto saw large crowds of people moving around outside. He turned to the nurse, "Eh…what's going on out there?" The nurse went to the window and looked out side.

"Oh, that's right, well today must be the festival for Tsunade-Sama's retirement." The nurse turned smiling at Naruto and went back to work.

"Who's going to be the new Hokage?" Naruto said puzzled.

The nurse looked up from folding white hospital towels, "Oh, Tsunade-sama and the high council of the village will be announcing that tonight," The nurse looked over at a clock sitting on the table near the bed Naruto is sitting on. "I'd say in about three hours." Naruto nodded, and the nurse went back to work. Naruto looked out the window once again. 'I've got to get out of here…' He sighed and laid back down, waiting for the nurse to leave.  
- - - - -  
"Kabuto…" Orochimaru's voice broke through the candle lit room. "Have you talked to the leaders of the other villages?"

Kabuto looks across the room, "Yes Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto goes back to fiddling with some papers on a table at the other end of the dim room.

"Good…only a week left…" Orochimaru started laughing, "This time, Konoha will crumble…" Kabuto looked out of the corner of his eyes at Orochimaru, then went back to work.  
- - - - -  
The sky was dark in Konoha. Crowds were cheering and having fun, Jaraiya stumbled around with a bottle of sake in hand chasing after girls. Tsunade stepped up to the ledge of the stage on the Hokage monument. The crowds cheered her on. Tsunade smiled and calmed the crowd. "Tonight, I officially announce my retirement, and your new Hokage." The crowd cheered, Sakura looked at the huge ocean of people, and slowly started to stand up. "First I would like to thank all the villagers for being so great and helping out the country during out bad, and good times. Ah…anyway on with what we're here for. Remember next week is when this person will officially become the Hokage, please com to the festival; And you new Hokage is…" The crowd went completely silent. Naruto was limping down the street with crutches listening to Tsunade's words. "The new Hokage will be Haruno Sakura!" The crowd started cheering as Sakura walked up next to Tsunade waving around at everyone. Naruto paused in his tracks. Fireworks went off in the sky, and the crowd got louder. The one week countdown was now on…


End file.
